Comments on: Curious Bird, Undiscovered Exhibit

By: Susan (UK)

Susan (UK) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:50:57 +0000

Mike, I don’t know if you’ll read this but I am now confused about the colour of the Kagu. I was watching a BBC documentary series ‘South Pacific’ and there was quite a long part featuring this bird. But it’s grey and looks bigger (22″) than the blue one you have. It has the same latin name and, when I did some checking on the internet only the grey one comes up. No mention was made of a blue Kagu. This has left me rather puzzled now. No matter what the colour though, what a magnificent bird. The way it puffs itself up, both to impress its partner and to see off predators is wonderful.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 15:09:23 +0000

Hi Mike! Thanks for the information about the Madagascar button quail. It is good to know that there are some female birds that are the more colorful! I’ve heard of males incubating the eggs in some species and find it endearing for some reason. Best of all is when both parents take turns incubating the eggs, as some species do.

I have to sheepishly correct something from my previous post. I referenced “chattering away and getting as close to the mesh as possible” and think that the phrase qualifies as a misplaced modifier, since I meant to refer to the birds’ chattering. Instead it appears that I was describing myself as chattering and snuggling up to the mesh, which I was not, as tempting as that would have been! LOL

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge. I hope there’ll be more bird stories in upcoming blog posts.

By: Mike Grue

Mike Grue — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:31:06 +0000

Melissa,
I’m glad you enjoyed interacting with the birds at your zoo. I think that the Kagu does enjoy interacting with both the public and his keepers. I think the “distracting male” theory is an interesting one and certainly plausible.

As an interesting side note: even when there is sexual dimorphism, the male is not always the more colorful one! The Madagascar button quail female is the more colorful of the two genders. Having said that, would you be surprised to find out that the parenting role is also reversed? It is the male who takes care of the eggs (incubating) and then the chicks (feeding and protecting)! Maybe the female button quail needs the colorful plumage to impress her potential partner.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:55:17 +0000

Mike, thank you for answering my questions! It is interesting how the mating patterns differ between dimorphic species and monomorphic species. I’ve always found it funny that the male birds are much more colorful when there are color variations between males and females. I heard another theory once that male birds are brighter and more colorful so as to distract possible predators from the mother bird and the nest. It makes more sense that the color distinction would relate to breeding, as you explained.

I just visited my local zoo and enjoyed observing the many species of birds there. Some are quite friendly and fly to the front of their enclosures when they see people while others squawk and fly to the back or the top to avoid any possibility of human interaction. One of the white-crested laughing thrushes was quite friendly and chatty. He/she really came to life when I walked up to the cage, chattering away and getting as close to the mesh as possible to get a good look. It was a treat, and I imagine your kagu friend is probably happy to see you apart from the food that you bring to him every day.

Thanks again!

By: Mike Grue

Mike Grue — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:59:20 +0000

Melissa, you asked if the picture was of a male or a female kagu. Good question, I don’t know! Kagu’s are sexually monomorphic birds–meaning that the male looks practically identical to the female. Though sexual dimorphism is common among many of our songbirds and ducks (northern cardinals and mallards, for example), there are many monomorphic species out there. Most monomorphic species tend to stay with one mate longer than dimorphic males who have to impress a different lady every breeding season! Kagus are typically bonded with one mate for many breeding seasons. This means that the male can assume a more drab and “camouflaged” color.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:14:37 +0000

The kagu is such a beautiful bird. Would that be a picture of the male kagu? If so, is the female a more muted color as is the case with a lot of species of birds? Your male kagu sounds like he has a charming personality. What female kagu wouldn’t fall for him? They have a lot of time to get to know each other better as neighbors and hopefully they will be parents to lots of baby kagus in a couple of years.

By: Rose N.

Rose N. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:36:37 +0000

Hi Mike – I enjoyed your blog about the beautiful Kagu bird. It makes me happy to read that the male now has a female in the enclosure next door. I’m hoping they will become good friends.

I love birds and always visit the aviaries and all the bird enclosures along the walkways throughout the zoo. We often stop and talk to some of the birds. My husband enjoys whistling at the birds and loves to “get their attention”. It’s a joy when some birds come to the front of the enclosure to say “hello” and interact with us.

I’ve never seen a magpie robin, or a Bartlett’s bleeding heart dove. I’m looking forward to our next trip to the San Diego Zoo. We will be sure to visit these birds when we stop at the Polar Bear Plunge. Thank you.

By: Mike Grue

Mike Grue — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:53:24 +0000

Susan, It sounds like you did find the enclosures I wrote about! I’m sure the female was not in her exhibit yet. But the male was almost surely in the exhibit when you came to visit. It’s not unusual for visitors to miss seeing him. Though there are times when he seems to adore the attention of visitors, other times he can be quite shy and will nap in his cave-like “log house.”

By: Mike Grue

Mike Grue — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:45:58 +0000

Shirley, I’m glad you got a chance to see the kagus bonding! You are right in your observation that there is only one bearded vulture on exhibit. We are actually looking into moving her to a breeding facility in Europe where she should get a chance to be a mother!

By: Susan (UK)

Susan (UK) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:17:17 +0000

I’m sure I visited this enclosure last year. My daughter and I were just wandering around and found this little road with bird cages. We weren’t even sure if we should go down there, but we did anyway! There were some very interesting birds to see, we couldn’t work out why they were so hidden away. Unfortunately we didn’t see this lovely little Kagu (unless it wasn’t there at that time), but perhaps it was just hiding?